Portland Shopping Tips by IncogNeat-0
Top 5 Page for this destination

Trader Joe grocery stores are few, far between, and far smaller then the giants. As a consequence they have less to offer, but tend to have lower prices. If staying at the NW International Youth Hostel, simply walk west on Glisan (glee, as in glee club) until you get to a nearby TJ outlet. Clean, bi-sexual restroom in the warehouse area. A block or two further west is a William Temple House thrift store, a NW neighborhood icon.

The IYH on SE Hawthorne has a nearby Safeway, one of the giants. Safeway has evolved over the years from neighborhood supermarkets to district superdupermarkets. Freddies (Fred Meyer) during the same time frame has outstripped all commers. They can be relied on to have ample pay phones & clean restroom facilities. The same is not necessarily true of Safeway. The good news for visitors is that the downtown Safeway @ SW 10th & Jefferson has long hours, from 5 AM until at least 11 PM. The deli seating area is cramped. I find it uncomfortable, though others may not.

The downtown Freddies on West Burnside, closer to the uptown shopping area then the downtown core, among the smallest albeit busiest Freddy outlets nonetheless has the most comfortable, most relaxing deli seating area I've so far seen; almost like an outdoor plaza indoors. It is also within easy walking distance of the NW IYH. Ask directions.

The Rejuvenation store and Hippo Hardware are both in the business of recycling the past. Rejuvenation, with greater floorspace, is more likely to have big buck items like claw foot tubs, chandeliers, or classic 50's style furniture less likely to fit in your backpack.

Midway between the two is the Andy & Bax surplus store. By the time you get done rummaging around there, you might want to save Hippo Hardware for another day.

From Andy and Bax: Walk due north on SE Grand Avenue to E Burnside, then right on Burnside to Hippo Hardware. Hippo is the last building before the Burnside/Sandy Boulevard/12th Avenue interchange,

Exit at 8th & E Burnside, the last stop prior to the Burnside/Sandy Boulevard/12th Avenue junction. Ask bus driver if in doubt. Walk due east to Hippo Hardware.

Not your typical hospital clean modern hardware store, it doesn't look like much on the inside, and is even less impressive on the outside (think "True Grit"), but it may have just the thing-a-ma-jig you've been looking for but have never been able to find anywhere else.

Hippo Hardware is as far removed form a modern neighborhood hardware store in the opposite direction as a modern neighborhood hardware store is from a Home Depot megastore.

When your grandparents or their parents or their grandparents parents bought bobbles, bangles, or bright shiny things for their own homes, from bathroom fixtures to hinges to light fixtures to weather vanes, this is the sort of stuff they bought brand spanking new. Who knows, it might even possible to buy old-fashioned square nails.

P-38 can openers for one thing, perfect for backpackers, and probably more sanitary then geared models. Ever tried to clean one? No, I mean REALLY clean one. It ain't possible.

In fact, if in need of a backpack or sleeping bag, or are planing on camping off the power grid for awhile, or starting your own little war - very popular these days - this is the place to go. Didn't see any used Sherman Tanks (check the basement, though, to be sure), or lister bags either for that matter. Can't run a decent war without lister bags.

Andy & Bax mottled camouflage shopping bags, to top it off, make nice little souvenirs in their own right.

From Rejuvenation store: Walk due north a half mile or so to Andy and Bax or board #6 Trimet bus at SE Grand & Taylor. Exit at SE Grand & Oak. Walk north to Andy and Bax.

From north side of Pioneer Courthouse Square, board the Blue (Hillsboro) or Red (Beaverton) MAX train. You will be heading west in order to go east. Don't worry about it. That's what Columbus did, worked out fine for everyone except those who owned the place. Exit at the Goose Hollow MAX Station.

From north side of Pioneer Courthouse Square, board Blue (Hillsboro) or Red (Beaverton) MAX train. You will be heading west in order to go east. Don't worry about it. Exit at the Goose Hollow MAX Station.

The original concept of department stores was that each department was separately owned & operated within the same store, along the same lines today as mall boutiques. Another step back into the past, I guess, at Rejuvenation.

The last time I dropped by, Powell's (I think) had a small "How To" magazine rack as well.

Portlanders, Oregon visitors, Asian visitors, Asian American visitors, visitors from as far north as Mongolia, as far east as Uzbekistan, as high as Nepal, or as wet as Palau may want to contact www.pacco.org for an impressive, compresensive, detailed "Asian American Resource Guide," courtesy of Portlands Philippine Chamber Of Commerce.

Format is North American telephone book "yellow pages." It is that, too, but much more, a compendium of useful information especially of interest to foreign born Americans hard to find anywhere else all in one place; a useful, functional souvenier with probably the best Asian/mid-eastern restaurant guide in town. With a Chinese lunar calendar, it might be even closer in function to an almanac then phone book. No tide tables, though.